There are plenty of choices in Antioch when it comes to replacing the air filters in your home comfort system. A visit to a home center may produce a half dozen or more different filters that could be used, ranging in price from 49 cents to $15. Their effectiveness varies widely, too. So which is the right one? The primary reason for a filter in your furnace is to protect the equipment.

On a cold winter's night, nothing is nicer than a cozy, warm house. If you live in an area of the country that calls for home heating for the better part of three seasons, then hydronic heating can be a very comfortable choice for a new heating system in Antioch.

Astute readers (you know who you are) might think this is a Dave Barry column. Well, although both amazing and entertaining, it isn't one of his. It is my attempt to save the gazillions of BTUs Americans waste every year when they boil water. While you may now think this is a blonde joke, it is actually a very serious matter adversely affecting our national security.

Homeowners looking for heating alternatives this winter have a number of options, including two freestanding home heating stoves that rely on organic materials such as shelled corn as heat sources. The Harman PC 45 Corn Stove from Harman Stove Company is specifically designed to burn corn, although it also can be fitted to burn wood pellets.

Changing a water heater element is easy. Shown here is a screw-in element. If your water heater suddenly produces less hot water - and you haven't added a teenager to the household - you've probably burned out one of its heater elements. But don't worry. Unless the tank is leaking, it isn't dead.

As temperatures climb during the summer months in Antioch, homeowners are looking for ways to keep their houses cool without heating up their air conditioning budgets. There are a number of ways homeowners can keep their homes cooler, such as planting shade trees around the home to keep the sun off the roof, or using awnings, overhangs or trellises to provide shading over windows.

Most residential central air-conditioning systems in Antioch are split. In a split system, the outdoor components - a compressor, condenser coil and fan packaged in a weatherproof enclosure - are installed on a concrete pad. The indoor components in systems where they are combined with a central air-heating system include the evaporator coil and expansion device and use that system's ducts. The coil is placed at the discharge side of the furnace. It is often called an A-coil, because of its letter-like shape.

An Airfloor system in Antioch is made up of hundreds of 12-square-inch, igloo-shaped metal forms that are 3.5 inches tall and open on four sides. The metal forms are snapped together to create a hollow floor, which sits on top of the home's subfloor.

This boiler uses automatic burner modulation ranging from 57 percent to full fire, preventing short cycling. Technology changes in heating equipment have been pioneered in the United States by manufacturers of forced hot-air furnaces. Like any other revolution, this did not come without its problems. In the beginning, we bumped our heads on the learning curves and encountered equipment.

Whether replacing an old furnace in Antioch in an existing home or installing one in a newbuild, homeowners have many moneysaving options. In addition to focusing on the heating system itself, homeowners also need to decide which type of fuel or energy source makes the most monetary and environmental sense, whether its oil, natural gas, propane gas, electric, or even wood or coal.

There’s nothing like a warm fire on a cold day. The ambiance can’t be beat — but unfortunately, as you’re sitting in front of that cozy wood-burning fireplace, it’s greedily consuming your energy dollars.

Want to trim your air-conditioning costs in Antioch this summer? Emerson Climate Technologies provides the following tips for homeowners with central air conditioning: Don't touch that dial. Many homeowners adjust the thermostat two, three or more times a day, which is inefficient.

Recent headlines about potential shortages of natural gas and rising heating costs have again raised concerns about the need to conserve energy in Antioch. One of the largest sources of energy consumption in your home is an appliance that most of us take for granted, makes virtually no noise when operating, and often sits unnoticed in a basement or closet.

Fireplaces top many homeowners' wish lists, but reality rarely matches the romance. In fact, a recent survey by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association found that most people who have a fireplace don't use it. Why the chilly reception? During conventional, or open, fireplace operation, warm air gets sucked out of the house and up the chimney.

These aren’t your grandfather’s fireplaces in Antioch. Less than 9 inches deep and featuring minimalist, lightweight designs with natural black granite or limestone finishes, the X-Fires vent-free gas fireplaces from Lennox are designed for installation in apartments or areas of the home where it’s not possible to install a traditional fireplace, such as in a kitchen or home theater. The slim, self-contained X-Fire fireplaces are easy to install.

There are plenty of choices in Antioch when it comes to replacing the air filters in your home comfort system. A visit to a home center may produce a half dozen or more different filters that could be used, ranging in price from 49 cents to $15. Their effectiveness varies widely, too. So which is the right one? The primary reason for a filter in your furnace is to protect the equipment.

There are many ways heat is generated inside our homes. Lighting, computers, refrigerators, freezers, cooking and bathing are some of the primary sources. Reducing the heat generated from these sources or venting that heat quickly to the outside are key cooling strategies.

Whether youve got a room air conditioner or a central air conditioner in Antioch, you've got one of the luxuries of modern life, now almost taken for granted. But you dont take it for granted when it doesnt work. With the cooling season here, there are steps homeowners can take to help keep their AC up and running. Moreover, performing this simple maintenance can help lower your electricity bills.

Keeping a home in Antioch warm was relatively simple once we had fire. But making a home cool in hot weather was a problem that took millennia of human history to solve. Even the usually clever Romans were technologically helpless against sweltering Italian summers: They resorted to sacrificing dogs in hopes the gods would lift the heat that accompanied the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star, every July.

Let's face it, considering improvements to your duct system in Antioch is not as exciting as choosing new tile or kitchen cabinets, but the benefits can be huge. The October 1998 Appraisal Journal reports that the value of a home increases $20 for every $1 decrease in annual utility costs. Translation: If your yearly heating and cooling bills total $800, and you make a change that saves 25 percent ($200).

Homeowners looking for heating alternatives this winter have a number of options, including two freestanding home heating stoves that rely on organic materials such as shelled corn as heat sources. The Harman PC 45 Corn Stove from Harman Stove Company is specifically designed to burn corn, although it also can be fitted to burn wood pellets.

There's a rift in the home-heating industry that pits professionals on the water side against those on the air side. That is: hydronic vs. forced warm air. Some contractors prefer one type of heat to the other, but many have learned that to serve their customers well they must offer both types of heat.

It's not particularly difficult to install a hot water dispenser, and it could be considered a do-it-yourself project for handy homeowners in Antioch. Before you begin the installation process, gauge your level of expertise around the house.

Hydronics the practice of using hot water to distribute heat through baseboard convectors, freestanding radiators or in-floor radiant coils is enjoying a revolution. As more people discover the comfort and reliability of hydronic heating, particularly radiant floor heating, the pressure increases to find more economical installation methods.

On a cold winter's night, nothing is nicer than a cozy, warm house. If you live in an area of the country that calls for home heating for the better part of three seasons, then hydronic heating can be a very comfortable choice for a new heating system in Antioch.

There are several different makes and models with varying features in Antioch. It shouldn't be hard to find one to suit your needs. Programmable thermostats automatically change temperature settings at predesignated time intervals over a 24-hour period. The settings are, ideally, established to control temperature variations to match a family's daily schedule and awake/sleep cycles, allowing family members to awaken to comfortable indoor temperatures and return home to a seasonably comfortable house without having to adjust the settings manually.

Conventional storage-tank water heaters keep water hot continually, which is certainly not the most efficient method in Antioch. In fact, about 20 percent of the operating costs associated with these systems can be attributed to standby loss, where the tank is just sitting there waiting to be used.

Two elements of a home that most people take for granted are the air and the water. Here we'll discuss the basics of clean, healthy household water. Household water can contain bacteria that cause disease or contaminants that can be detrimental to your health. Drinking water is not the only concern bathing and showering in poor-quality water can also have negative affects on your health.

Changing a water heater element is easy. Shown here is a screw-in element. If your water heater suddenly produces less hot water - and you haven't added a teenager to the household - you've probably burned out one of its heater elements. But don't worry. Unless the tank is leaking, it isn't dead.

Water heating accounts for up to 24 percent of residential energy use and is the second-largest energy expenditure in most households. Using high-efficiency tankless models could save 290 million gallons of fuel oil a year, 164 million gallons of propane and 6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Astute readers (you know who you are) might think this is a Dave Barry column. Well, although both amazing and entertaining, it isn't one of his. It is my attempt to save the gazillions of BTUs Americans waste every year when they boil water. While you may now think this is a blonde joke, it is actually a very serious matter adversely affecting our national security.